Stuck in Atlas
by CrypticGirl
Summary: After saving the World Tree in Atlas, the chosen few summoned to this world by Martel learn that they cannot return to their home worlds as of yet.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: The Tales series, Ad Libitum, and characters are properties of Namco.

**Author's Note**: I've decided to start a new fanfic series, based from an Ad Libitum RP on Livejournal. It won't necessarily be based on the events that occur in the RP. But it will more or less star the cast of characters that we currently have in the RP.

The cast of characters are as follows...

Yuan Kafei  
Lloyd Irving  
Genis Sage  
Arche Klein  
Tear Grants  
Jade Curtiss  
Asch the Bloody  
Jay the Unseen

The RP also has Yuri Lowell and Flynn Scifo, but I most likely won't include them, because I don't know their characters at all.

I believe the stories may revolve around Jay a lot, because he's the character I play in the RP. But I'll try to give everyone a decent exposure, so to speak. Check my profile for the RP links.

This particular fic is just a oneshot to introduce the readers to the series. It's not meant to have a real plot, other than to reveal that the guild members would be trapped in the world of Atlas for a while longer...

P.S. More info and links can be found in my profile page.

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Yuan Kafei walked briskly back to the town of Blessenwood after confirming one alarming fact. Martel, or the World Tree, would not be able to send the summoned individuals back to their respective worlds. It didn't really matter as far as Yuan himself was concerned, but he knew that the other members of Ad Libitum would not react very pleasantly.

The Blessenwood guild leader arrived back in the town, giving an order to the townspeople to send the other guild members to the headquarters immediately. He then entered the guild building and waited...rather impatiently.

The first member to arrive was Jay the Unseen. He stepped into the building and approached the desk casually.

"God morning, Yuan," he said. ""It's good to see you as always."

Yuan looked down at him. "You won't be so happy to see me once III explain why I've called you here."

Jay raised an eye. "Oh?"

The room fell silent as both Jay and Yuan stared at each other. Yuan obviously wasn't going to explain...at least not yet, so Jay moved to the side of the room and waited.

The next to arrive was Jade Curtiss. He strayed into the guild building casually, with his hands in his pockets and took his spot next to Jay. Neither he nor Yuan said anything.

"My, my...not very talkative today, are we?" Jade inquired.

"There's nothing to talk about," Yuan retorted.

"No? Oh, but I'm sure there must be something...how about the weather? The weather sure is beautiful, is it not? It makes me want to kick back and bask in the sunshine."

"Well, you'll have plenty of time for that, so there's no need to worry," Yuan said, almost bitterly.

Jade paused, looking at him sideways. He then pushed his glasses back on his face. ""And I presume you'll explain what you mean by that when the others get here?"

"You presume correctly."

"I see..." Jade restored his hands to his pockets and waited.

Next, Tear Grants and Asch the Bloody entered the building and took their spots next to Jade. Tear said nothing, but Asch shot a scowl at Yuan before looking away with an audible scoff.

Tear shot a similar glance at the former God-General. "Asch!"

Asch flashed the same scowl at her. "What?!"

Tear was about to scold him, but then stopped herself. She knew that Asch wasn't the same as Luke, and thus decided that she wouldn't scold him as she would the replica.

"It's...it's nothing."

Asch looked away. "Tch..."

The next to arrive was Arche Klein. She opened the door and poked her head inside before stepping into the room, raising her broom.

"Hi! Enter the amazing Arche!" she called cheerfully.

She skipped over to where Asch was standing. "Oh Aaaaasch!"

Asch gave her an icy glare before distinctly looking away. "Hmph!"

Yuan also watched Arche and then looked away, saying nothing.

Then Genis Sage entered the building. Yuan perked up upon seeing him.

"Oh, Genis, good timing," he said. "Have you seen Lloyd? Knowing him, he's probably fallen asleep somewhere."

"Uh...yeah, I saw him sleeping in a tree next to the inn," Genis replied.

"Great..." Yuan grumbled. "Would you wake him up and tell him to get his ass over here right now?"

"Um..." Genis shrank back at the unexpected use of profanity. "Yes, sir..."

Genis left the guild building, leaving the other members to wait once more. The silence was truly deafening as no one bothered to speak. Jade looked around, studying each of his comrades carefully.

"Oh, come now...at least someone can say something somewhat entertaining."

"Hmm..." Arche pondered for a moment. "Hey Jay, why don't you show us your dance?"

Jay gave her an odd look. "There's no reason to dance, especially in here of all places."

"Hmm...then how about I go over to the inn and cook something?"

The others jumped with a start. "No, don't!" they all protested vocally.

"Eating doesn't seem to be very entertaining anyway," Jay added.

"That's enough!" Asch nearly exploded. "Just shut up and wait already!"

The room fell silent once again as everyone shot him a look. About a moment later, Genis returned to the guild building with the very drowsy Lloyd Irving in tow.

"Well, it's about time you got here," Yuan said. "Certainly you have better things to do than sleep."

Lloyd rubbed one of his eyes. "Well, there's sparring..."

"Besides that," Yuan said. "You could have been working on these Ad Libitum requests, you know."

"Aw come on," Lloyd protested. "I just wanted to save some quests for the others. I'm not the only guild member, you know."

Yuan shook his head. "Never mind; we'll talk about that later. For now, I have some disappointing news for all of you."

"D-Disappointing?" Arche muttered with a sad look in her eyes.

"Yes. Although our efforts to save the World Tree have been successful, it seems that we still cannot return to our own worlds."

"What?!" the guild members whined in unison.

"But...why?" Arche asked, looking at Yuan with her puppy eyes.

Jade let out a sigh. "Oh, how my heart aches..."

"Apparently, Martel's mana is still exhausted," Yuan explained. "It will take some time for her to regain enough mana to send us home."

"But...how much time are we talking?" Tear asked.

"That remains unknown," Yuan told her. "I suppose the best thing to do would be to continue our duties as a guild, but I'm sure the jobs will decline now that the world is safe from the natural disasters."

"Which means we may have to find jobs elsewhere," Tear said.

"Ooh, Asch!" Arche cooed. "I'd love to see you as a waiter at the inn again."

"And I'm sure the inn would love to see you again as well," Jade added, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Tch...I don't mind working at the inn again," Asch said. "The drunkards may be annoying, but I can handle them."

"I have my own methods of earning an income, so I'll just stick with that," Jay said. "I don't really need a job."

"Hmm. Well then, that's all I wanted to say," Yuan said. "You all may do as you please now."

Without verbally acknowledging the guild leader, the members turned and began to leave the guild headquarters.

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The first thing Asch did was return to his room at the inn. There was plenty of time to go job-hunting later, but right now, he just needed to sulk.

_So I still can't get back to Natalia? Damn it...I wanted to keep my promise...just this once..._

_But Yuan said that all we needed to do was wait for Martel to regain enough mana. So we can still get home eventually. Hold on, Natalia...I'll come back to you, I promise..._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Lloyd stood in the middle of the Blessenwood road looking up at the sky. Genis approached him casually. He didn't bother to look at whatever Lloyd was looking at. Instead, he studied Lloyd's expression of apparent fascination.

"Lloyd?"

"What's up, Genis?"

"I was wondering...what did you think of Yuan's announcement? You know...about being stuck here longer."

"Eh, it's not so bad. I've got my best friend here, after all, so I'll be fine."

Genis smiled. "Yeah, you're right. It helps when you have friends with you."

"I just worry about some of the others...like Jay, you know? I think he's the only one from his world. He must be lonely."

"Yeah..." Genis mused as he finally looked up at the sky, thus spotting what Lloyd was transfixed on. Arche was up in the sky, flying in circles on her broom. "I think Arche is the only one from her world as well. I remember that she sort of adopted Jay as a 'little brother.'"

"Yeah, they do seem pretty close," Lloyd agreed.

"So..." Genis continued to watch Arche. "Isn't it boring watching her fly around like that?"

"Well...it is making me dizzy..." Lloyd's body began to sway for a moment before tipping backwards, hitting the ground with an audible thud.

Genis looked down at the swordsman, who had passed out, then looked up at the sky again.

Meanwhile, Jade casually approached the young half-elf, panning his eyes up at the sky, paying no attention to Lloyd.

"Well, this looks like fun," he remarked.

Arche continued to fly in circles above the town, panicking from Yuan's announcement.

"This can't be happening!" she whined. "I have to get home! My friends need me! We have to take out Dhaos! Now what am I gonna do?! What are they gonna do without me?!"

Beginning to feel dizzy herself, she gradually lowered herself to the ground in circles. Once she touched down, she staggered in circles a few steps before tripping over her broomstick and collapsing to the ground in an unmoving heap.

"Hmm..." Genis pondered for a moment. "I wonder how she flies on that broom?"

Taking the broom from Arche, Genis positioned it between his legs.

"She's a mage, just like me. So if she can do it, I should be able to do it, too."

However, nothing happened. Genis concentrated intently, even hopping in place a few times, but the broom just would not fly.

"Hey, it's not working!"

"Let's see here..." Jade calmly took the broom from Genis, setting it between his legs. "I think it would take a certain amount of intellect to accomplish something like this."

He too concentrated, but not visibly. Once again, nothing seemed to happen as Jade pushed his glasses backward on his face. "Hmm..."

"Well, with all due respect, Colonel..." Genis grumbled, yanking the broom from between Jade's legs, "you're not the only 'intellectual' here."

The colonel seemed not to react as he felt the bristles of the broom striking his area. "Ouch...my aching pelvis. I suppose I shall need a cane now..."

Arche stood up slowly, still feeling dizzy. "Hey...what are you doing with my broom?"

"Sorry..." Genis handed the broom back to her. "We were just wondering how you could fly with it."

"Hmph! That's my little secret!" Arche replied with a sheepish grin. She began to float around them on her broom just for the sake of showing off.

"By the way, how is Jay?" Jade asked.

Arche frowned. "He's depressed...he is the only one from his world after all. But I'm sure he'll be fine. After all, he has me, his big sister Arche, to cheer him up."

"That's lovely. Be sure to tell him that he's always welcome to visit me anytime. I do enjoy conversing with him."

"Will do. Bye now!" Arche flew in one more loop around him before flying across the road to the inn.

Jade straightened his glasses and began to walk down the road himself, merrily humming to himself.

"Are you just going to leave me here?" Genis grumbled softly, looking down at Lloyd, who was still snoozing in the road.

After staring at him for a moment, Genis gave him a hard kick to the ribs.

"Waugh!" Lloyd screamed as he sat up suddenly.

"Wake up, Lloyd!" Genis yelled. "This is no place to be sleeping!"

"I wasn't sleeping!" Lloyd protested. "I was watching Arche and I got dizzy, and..."

He looked up at the sky, becoming dizzy once again. Thus, he passed out in the road once again.

This time, Genis growled in frustration. "Lloyd!"

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In his room at the inn, Jay sat on top of his bed with his knees pulled up to his chest. Like the other guild members, he was disappointed that he couldn't return home. But then again, now that this world was generally safe, being stuck here for a while longer would not be so terrible. After all, he had made some new friends, who were similar to his friends back home. Like Arche, who reminded him of Norma, and who had also adopted him as a "little brother." And there was Jade, who couldn't really be compared to any of his home world comrades, but Jay still enjoyed associating with him.

Jay missed his home regardless. He missed the Oresoren, and there was definitely no replacement for them. He even missed the certain stupid bandit, but he had met another red-haired man whom he came to admire.

_Asch..._

Jay felt drawn to Asch, not only because he reminded him of Moses, but also because Asch was very much like Jay's former self. It was very painful to feel this way, knowing that Asch already had someone that he loved in his home world. Plus, once they got home, they would never see each other again. So Jay would just have to enjoy the time he could spend with the God-General until they part ways permanently.

Jay smiled to himself now. "Asch..."

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Meanwhile, Tear had another redhead on her mind.

"Luke...I said I'd wait forever, but it seems I'm still stuck in this world. If you do return and I'm not there...would you wait for me?"

At least she had Asch in this world, and Asch seemed to be a spitting image of Luke. No...it was Luke who was a spitting image of Asch. Whatever the case, she knew that Asch was not Luke.

"I'll be back, Luke...I promise. Please wait for me..."


End file.
